The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights welcomes the recent report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the light of combating terrorism, it calls the government for the implementation of its recommendations in an effort to enact a new bill to combat terrorism.

The report of Special Rapporteur called the Egyptian government for lifting the state of emergency which has been imposed since 1981 till now in pursuance of the principles and values of human rights. Also it calls for revising article 179 of the Egyptian constitution to conform with international standards on human rights especially what related to the sanctity of private life and ratifying on the optional protocol annexed to the Convention against Torture and other ways of inhuman or degrading treatments . Also it calls for the necessary to determine a specific definition to the terrorist activities.

The report also recommended that any measure taken to combat terrorism should not affect in any way the fundamental rights represented in the right to expression, peaceful assembly and establishing NGOs with the full respect for articles (14,9,7) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which was ratified by the Egyptian government in 1982, and the abolition of special courts and to trial citizens before their natural judge, put an end to arbitrary detention and to ensure that prisoners are enjoying withthe full fundamental rights, especially the right to visit and contact the outside world.

The report also urged the Egyptian government to cooperate with any State that deliver those who are suspected to be terrorists to Egypt , those suspects who claimed that they are subjected to torture or detention when they return back in order to bring those responsible – in those countries – for these practices to the trial.

In this regard, Mr. Hafez Abu Seada Secretary-General of EOHR clarified that the total recommendations of Special Rapporteur are consistent with recommendations already put forward by the Observatory against terrorism through promoting democracy, he expressed his hopes that the bill of combating terrorism be achieved. Also he indicated that the government should undertake a social dialogue whose reference depends on the guarantees and rights of suspect stated in the constitution and the Egyptian law and other guarantees stated in the international covenants on human rights which were ratified by the Egyptian government and became part and parcel of its domestic law in accordance with article 151 of the constitution . He pointed out that the bill should include a specific definition to terrorism , terrorist ,terrorist organization and financing terrorism to guarantee not to repeat such mistakes included by law 97 -1992 , also the government should work with the idea of judiciary monitoring before all procedures stated in the law and not to work with later monitoring as the Spanish model which some believe that it is thebest model for Egypt.

Abu Seada called the government to implement the recommendations of special Rapporteur of the United Nations,

and to resort to similar laws prepared by most democratic countries of the world and to take into account the United Nations resolutions and recommendations of Berlin Declaration in 2004 and Madrid Agenda for 2005 and the global strategy to combat terrorism in 2006 and the decisions of the European Council in 2002.

It is worth noting that EOHR started the activity of the observatory of combating terrorism in February 2008 and

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
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